Why Measles, Whooping Cough (And Autism) Are Expanding

6/23/2014

United Academics
By Rebekah Morrow
June 23, 2014

Preventable diseases such as whooping cough and measles are more prevalent now than they have been in many years. Most of these outbreaks occur in places where vaccination levels are low. What does this mean for the global population, both vaccinated and unvaccinated?

How vaccines work
The simple version goes like this: Most vaccines contain part of or a weakened form of a pathogen, which is a disease causing agent. When the pathogen enters your body, the immune system begins mounting an immune response against it. This way, the next time you encounter the same pathogen, your body can fight it faster and more efficiently, so you won’t get sick, or will be less sick. Some immunizations offer lifetime protection, while others require boosters to be effective. Several vaccines have been so successful that diseases have been eliminated in parts of the world; the most well known of these may be the polio vaccine.

Individual immunizations can prevent a person from falling ill; large-scale immunization of populations is required to eradicate a disease. So far, only smallpox has been eradicated worldwide. The last case of smallpox was reported in 1977. Several human diseases have been massively reduced by vaccines, including diphtheria, tetanus, yellow fever, polio, whooping cough, and measles. Polio was eliminated in the Americas in 1994, and in Europe in 2002, although it is still found in Asia and Africa.

Herd immunity is a form of protection in which people who are immunized against a sickness may help indirectly protect those who are not immunized. Vaccination makes individuals less likely to contract and transmit illnesses than those who are unvaccinated. As the percentage of the population that is vaccinated becomes larger, the chance of transmitting contagious illnesses decreases. Herd immunity is compromised when vaccinations are unavailable or refused by a portion of the population.

Why are cases of measles and whooping cough on the rise?
This year in the United States, there has been a 24% increase in the number of cases of whooping cough. In California and Alabama, there have been more cases in the first half of 2014 than were reported in all of 2013. The worst whooping cough outbreak in fifty years occurred in California in 2010. The outbreak was tied back to children whose parents applied for vaccination exemptions, and more instances of whooping cough appeared among non-vaccinated than vaccinated kids. In the first four months of this year, the US reported the most measles cases in eighteen years, with large outbreaks in Ohio and Massachusetts. Some have been tied back to international travelers who were exposed to measles in the Philippines. It’s worth noting that the largest Ohio outbreak occurred among the Amish population, where many children are not immunized. This map shows the global resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases over the last six years.